When these two had said all this, their expressions darkened and they stopped talking, picking up the speed of their flying artifacts to rush straight down the mountain.
Han Li did not follow closely behind them. That would be too obvious.
Instead, he secretly linked a thread of his divine sense to the thin, wiry man. Then, with a cold expression, he watched the pair fly a certain distance before revealing his own figure unhurriedly and following from far behind.
Their speed, compared to Han Li’s, was truly slow.
They flew for over an hour before arriving at the fourth layer of the Holy Mountain, walking side-by-side into an utterly ordinary courtyard.
A moment later, Han Li’s figure appeared in the air above the courtyard.
The surroundings looked fairly secluded. Besides a few distant courtyards of similar design, there was a small, emerald-green bamboo grove, giving the place a touch of elegance.
Han Li’s eyes flickered with a glint as he regarded the courtyard.
Though it looked unremarkable, a small-scale "Flowing Water Formation" array was deployed outside the walls. While it wouldn’t be much use against an intruder who truly wanted to break in, it could at least serve as an early warning.
However, let alone being effective against Han Li, even a regular Core Formation cultivator with a slight knowledge of formations would find the array utterly useless.
Han Li was confident he could slip inside without alerting the outer restrictions.
And that was precisely what he did next.
He formed a hand seal, his figure blurred for an instant, and then vanished amidst a flash of cyan light.
…
Soon after, Han Li appeared soundlessly within the courtyard, his body concealed.
At this moment, he had restrained all magical power fluctuations in his body. Not only would a Foundation Establishment cultivator fail to detect him, but even a Core Formation cultivator would find it nearly impossible to discover Han Li.
This was Han Li being extra cautious, fearing that a Core Formation cultivator might actually be present. Otherwise, his ordinary concealment technique would have been sufficient.
Han Li stood motionless in the center of the courtyard, but his divine sense slowly spread out from him, enveloping the entire compound.
A peculiar expression then flashed across his face as he turned his gaze to focus on a wing room on the left.
He could clearly sense that the other rooms were empty, while this modest wing room held seven cultivators at once.
The wiry man and the dark-faced middle-aged man were among them.
Two of the seven were women. One was a woman of some charm in her middle years, and the other was a young woman with plain features.
But the one with the highest cultivation among them was a burly man in fine robes, whose sharp eyes were accented by a hawk-like hooked nose.
Aside from the slightly unsettling nose, his features were otherwise well-proportioned and dignified. He was at the late Foundation Establishment stage, having already entered the False Core realm, and could begin preparations for condensing his Core.
The rest were mostly at the early to middle stages of Foundation Establishment.
This was to be expected. Such cultivation was the minimum requirement for venturing into the Outer Star Sea.
However, whatever they had just been discussing, everyone looked somber and silent, the entire wing room utterly quiet with no one speaking.
Han Li was in no rush; he simply stood there waiting quietly.
He believed their subsequent conversation would surely provide him with some useful information. Then he could decide his next move.
Sure enough, after the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the middle-aged woman could no longer hold her tongue.
"Brother Yi, Fellow Daoist Huang has just returned with their message. They actually want five thousand spirit stones per person before they’ll agree to let us go to the Outer Star Sea. Should we complete the Star Palace’s mission and be transported openly, or do we really pay the spirit stones and sneak over there? Brother Yi, you need to make a decision. After all, once the great battle begins, even if they wanted to let us go, it might be too late." The woman’s voice was tinged with frustration.